A new bill being spearheaded by the top Republican in the North Carolina Senate aims to ensure the state is helping the Trump administration carry out its immigration enforcement efforts.

The latest effort by GOP lawmakers to strengthen cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would require certain state agencies to participate in an ICE program that delegates enforcement duties carried out by federal agents to trained state law enforcement officers.

Announcing the bill Monday, Senate leader Phil Berger and other Republicans indicated that Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s administration wasn’t doing enough to require state-level cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

The News & Observer reached out to Berger and Stein’s offices to understand why Republicans want state agencies involved, and what the governor’s position is on state-level cooperation. Here’s what we know.

GOP bill requires state participation in 287(g) program

The “North Carolina Border Protection Act,” introduced by Berger this week with the backing of all 30 Republicans in his caucus, would require four state law enforcement agencies to enter cooperation agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

These agreements, which exist under Section 287(g) of the federal Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, would allow designated state law enforcement officers under participating agencies to carry out immigration enforcement duties performed by federal agents. The federal program requires ICE to train state law enforcement officers and supervise them.

ICE has 287(g) agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies in 23 states, including in North Carolina, where 15 sheriff’s offices are currently participating in the program, according to data reported on the agency’s website.

Senate Bill 153 would require the state agencies — the N.C. Departments of Public Safety and Adult Correction, the State Highway Patrol, and the State Bureau of Investigation — to try to determine the legal status of the people in their custody, and notify ICE if they can’t make that determination or find that an individual in custody isn’t a legal resident or citizen.

The bill was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday afternoon and is expected to be taken up by the Rules Committee on Thursday morning. After that, it can be voted on by the full Senate.

Republican lawmakers previously passed legislation requiring cooperation with ICE at the local level. That bill, which was enacted in November over a veto by former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, required all 100 sheriffs in the state to comply with ICE detainers — requests to temporarily hold inmates ICE believes are in the country illegally, so the agency can take custody.

State law currently doesn’t require sheriffs to participate in 287(g). Wake County has participated in the program in the past, but pulled out of it in 2018.

Republicans say Stein hasn’t taken ‘clear stance’ on ICE cooperation

The N&O asked Berger’s office if any state law enforcement agencies under Stein or Cooper’s administrations had failed to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts.

Lauren Horsch, a spokeswoman for Berger, said the new bill Senate Republicans are advancing this week is necessary because Stein “has yet to take a clear stance on cooperating with federal immigration officials and President Trump’s efforts to address the border crisis.”

Horsch pointed to Stein refusing to weigh in on House Bill 10, the law Republicans enacted last year requiring sheriffs to comply with detainer requests.

Stein repeatedly avoided saying if he supported HB 10 while running for governor last year, but said instead he was backing a bipartisan border security bill that was being negotiated in Congress before then-candidate Donald Trump and other Republicans effectively killed it, saying it didn’t go far enough.

After Trump was elected, Stein said he was waiting to see the incoming administration’s specific plans and policies on immigration enforcement before deciding how to respond, noting that Trump “says a lot, and then you don’t know what the actual policy behind the bluster is going to be.”

Horsch said lawmakers haven’t seen Stein take any formal action yet addressing immigration, and added that Stein “should explain what, if any, guidance he has provided to law enforcement agencies under his purview regarding immigration and cooperating with ICE.”

House Speaker Destin Hall told reporters on Tuesday that he doesn’t have “any indication” about where Stein stands on immigration enforcement either.

It’s notable whenever Berger or Hall sign on to bills with their support as sponsors, as Berger did earlier this month with a GOP bill to allow concealed carry of handguns without a permit. With this bill, however, Berger took the further step of filing the bill as a primary sponsor.

The N&O asked Stein’s office if the governor supported the Senate’s new bill or had concerns about it, or if any federal authorities have raised concerns with him about North Carolina’s cooperation with immigration enforcement under the new administration.

Stein spokeswoman Kate Frauenfelder said in response that the governor’s office is reviewing the bill, and added: “We will always do everything in our power to protect people’s rights and safety.”

GOP sheriff recently spoke against Pender County joining 287(g) right now

Democrats, meanwhile, have filed their own bills to limit state and local law enforcement cooperation with ICE.

House Bills 78 and 80, introduced by Democratic Reps. Renee Price, Deb Butler, Pricey Harrison, and Maria Cervania earlier this month, would prevent state law enforcement agencies and sheriffs from participating in immigration enforcement in places of religious worship, schools, hospitals, farmland, and construction sites.

Mario Alfaro, a policy manager at advocacy group El Pueblo, said at a news conference Tuesday that GOP lawmakers “refuse to acknowledge the importance of immigrant workers, the need for their services, and their contributions to the growth and development of the state.”

Alfaro pointed to the construction industry as an example and questioned if companies would be able to “meet the demand for services, housing, commercial or industrial solutions, without immigrant workers.”

Asked about the Senate’s bill to increase state-level cooperation, Butler said during the news conference that federal immigration authorities should not be “foisting their responsibility” onto state and local officials.

Butler pointed out that last week, officials in Pender County voted against a resolution to have the county enter its own cooperation agreement under 287(g), after Sheriff Alan Cutler said he didn’t think his office needed to join the program.

Cutler said his office is already complying with warrants and detainer requests from ICE, according to WHQR. One of the commissioners raised concerns about the cost of participating in 287(g). Cutler said he would be open to considering a lower-cost alternative to 287(g) in the future.

Butler said Cutler, a Republican, “showed incredible bravery and courage” in speaking against joining the program and “recognizing that such agreements sow distrust and place an unnecessary burden on local law enforcement.”

The Wilmington Democrat said she expects Stein to veto the Senate’s bill if it reaches his desk, and added “that then in the House, we’ll sustain that veto.”

Republicans controlled veto-proof majorities in both chambers last session, but after November’s election, they’re one seat short in the House.

That means that Republicans will need at least one Democrat to join them in voting to override a potential veto, or a few Democrats to be absent during the vote, if they want to eventually pass and enact the bill over Stein’s objections.

Democratic Rep. Marcia Morey told The N&O on Tuesday that in addition to blocking bills with his veto pen, Stein can use his bully pulpit as governor to speak against the issue as Republicans seek to expand the state’s involvement with the Trump administration’s enforcement efforts.

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